Module 5

IOT CASE STUDIES AND FUTURE TRENDS

Vehicular IoT
13.1 Introduction
In this chapter, we discuss the application of IoT in connected vehicular systems. The use of
connected vehicles is increasing rapidly across the globe. Consequently, the number of on-road
accidents and mismanagement of traffic is also increasing. The increasing number of vehicles
gives rise to the problem of parking. However, the evolution of IoT helps to form a connected
vehicular environment to manage the transportation systems efficiently. Vehicular IoT systems
have penetrated different aspects of the transportation ecosystem, including on-road to off-road
traffic management, driver safety for heavy to small vehicles, and security in public
transportation. In a connected vehicular environment, vehicles are capable of communicating and
sharing their information. Moreover, IoT enables a vehicle to sense its internal and external
environments to make certain autonomous decisions. With the help of modern-day IoT
infrastructure, a vehicle owner residing in Earth’s northern hemisphere can very easily track his
vehicular asset remotely, even if it is in the southern hemisphere. In this chapter, we discuss the
importance and applications of IoT in the vehicular systems. Figure 13.1 represents a simple
architecture of a vehicular IoT system. The architecture of the vehicular IoT is divided into three
sublayers: device, fog, and cloud.
• Device: The device layer is the bottom-most layer, which consists of the basic infrastructure of
the scenario of the connected vehicle. This layer includes the vehicles and road side units (RSU).
These vehicles contain certain sensors which gather the internal information of the vehicles. On
the other hand, the RSU works as a local centralized unit that manages the data from the
vehicles.
• Fog: In vehicular IoT systems, fast decision making is pertinent to avoid accidents and traffic
mismanagement. In such situations, fog computing plays a crucial role by providing decisions in
real-time, much near to the devices. Consequently, the fog layer helps to minimize data
transmission time in a vehicular IoT system.
• Cloud: Fog computing handles the data processing near the devices to take decisions
instantaneously. However, for the processing of huge data, fog computing is not enough.
Therefore, in such a situation, cloud computing is used. In a vehicular IoT system, cloud
computing helps to handle processes that involve a huge amount of data. Further, for long-term
storage, cloud computing is used as a scalable resource in vehicular IoT systems.
13.1.1 Components of vehicular IoT
Modern cars come equipped with different types of sensors and electronic components. These
sensors sense the internal environment of the car and transmit the sensed data to a processor. The
on-road deployed sensors sense the external environment and transmit the sensed data to the
centralized processor. Thereafter, based on requirements, the processor delivers these sensed data
to fog or cloud to perform necessary functions. These processes seem to be simple, but
practically, several components, along with their challenges, are involved in a vehicular IoT
system. Figure 13.2 depicts the components required for vehicular IoT systems.
• Sensors: We have already discussed how sensors play a crucial role in an IoT-based ecosystem.
Similarly, in vehicular IoT, sensors monitor different environmental conditions and help to make
the system more economical, efficient, and robust. Traditionally, two types of sensors, internal
and external, are used in vehicular IoT systems.
(i) Internal: These types of sensors are placed within the vehicle. The sensors are typically used
to sense parameters that are directly associated with the vehicle. Along with the sensors, the
vehicles are equipped with different electronic components such as processing boards and
actuators. The internal sensors in a vehicle are connected with the processor board, to which they
transmit the sensed data. Further, the sensed data are processed by the board to take certain
predefined actions. A few examples of internal sensors are GPS, fuel gauge, ultrasonic sensors,
proximity sensors, accelerometer, pressure sensors, and temperature sensors.
(ii) External: External sensors quantify information of the environment outside the vehicle. For
example, there are sensors used in the smart traffic system that are capable of sensing vacant
parking lots in a designated parking area. The still images and videos from cameras are important
inputs to generate decisions in a vehicular IoT system. Therefore, on-road cameras are widely
used as external sensors to capture still images and videos. The captured images and videos are
processed further, either in the fog or in the cloud layer, to take certain pre-programmed actions.
As an example, camera sensor can capture the image of the license plate of an overspeeding
vehicle at a traffic signal; the image can be processed to identify the owner of the vehicle to
charge a certain amount of fine. Similarly, temperature, rainfall, and light sensors are also used in
the vehicular IoT infrastructure.
• Satellites: In vehicular IoT systems, automatic vehicle tracking and crash detection are among
the important available features. Satellites help the system to track vehicles and detect on-road
crashes. The satellite image is also useful for detecting on-road congestions and road blocks.
• Wireless connectivity: As vehicular IoT deals with connected vehicles, communication is an
important enabling component. For taking any action or making decisions, the collective data
from internal and external sensors need processing. For transmitting the sensed data from
multiple sensors to RSU (roadside unit) and from RSUs to the cloud, connectivity plays an
indispensable role. Moreover, in the vehicular IoT scenario, the high mobility of the vehicles
necessitates the connectivity type to be wireless for practical and real-time data transmission.
Different communication technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GSM, are common in the
vehicular IoT systems.
• Road Side Unit (RSU): The RSU is a static entity that works collaboratively with internal and
external sensors. Typically, the RSUs are equipped with sensors, communication units, and fog
devices. Vehicular IoT systems deal with timecritical applications, which need to take decisions
in real time. In such a situation, the fog devices attached to the RSUs process the sensed data and
take necessary action promptly. If a vehicular system involves heavy computation, the RSU
transmits the sensed data to the cloud end. Sometimes, these RSUs also work as an intermediate
communication agent between two vehicles.
• Cloud and fog computing: We have already discussed the importance of fog computing and
cloud in the context of IoT applications. In vehicular IoT systems, fog computing handles the
light-weight processes geographically closer to the vehicles than the cloud. Consequently, for
faster decision making, fog computing is used in vehicular IoT systems. However, for a
heavy-weight process, fog computing may not be a suitable option. In such a situation, cloud
computing is more adept for vehicular IoT systems. Cloud computing provides more scalability
of resources as compared to fog computing. Therefore, the choice of the application of fog and
cloud computing depends on the situation. For example, the location and extent of short on-road
congestion from a certain location can be determined by fog computing with the help of sensed
data. Further, the congestion information can be shared by the RSU among other on road
vehicles, thereby suggesting that they avoid the congested road. On the other hand, for
determining regular on-road congestion, predictions are typically handled with the help of cloud
computing. For the regular congestion prediction, the cloud end needs to process a huge amount
of instantaneous data, as well as, historical data for that stretch of road spanning back a few
months to years.
• Analytics: Similar to different IoT application domains, in vehicular IoT, analytics is a crucial
component. Vehicular IoT systems can be made to predict different dynamic and static
conditions using analytics. For example, strong data analytics is required to predict on-road
traffic conditions that may occur at a location after an hour.

13.1.2 Advantages of vehicular IoT The evolution of IoT resulted in the development of a
connected vehicular environment. Moreover, the typical advantages of IoT architectures directly
impact the domain of connected vehicular systems. Therefore, the advantages of IoT are
inherently included in vehicular IoT environments. A few selected advantages of vehicular IoT
are depicted in Figure 13.3. (i) Easy tracking: The tracking of vehicles is an essential part of
vehicular IoT. Moreover, the system must know from which location and which vehicle the
system is receiving the information. In a vehicular IoT system, the tracking of vehicles is
straightforward; the system can collect information at a remote location. (ii) Fast decision
making: Most of the decisions in the connected vehicle environment are time critical. Therefore,
for such an application, fast and active decision making are pertinent for avoiding accidents. In
the vehicular IoT environment, cloud and fog computing help to make fast decisions with the
data received from the sensor-based devices. (iii) Connected vehicles: A vehicular IoT system
provides an opportunity to remain connected and share information among different vehicles.
(iv) Easy management: Since vehicular IoT systems consist of different types of sensors, a
communication unit, processing devices, and GPS, the management of the vehicle becomes easy.
The connectivity among different components in a vehicular IoT enables systems to track every
activity in and around the vehicle. Further, the IoT infrastructure helps in managing the huge
number of users located at different geographical coordinates. (v) Safety: Safety is one of the
most important advantages of a vehicular IoT system. With easy management of the system, both
the internal and external sensors placed at different locations play an important role in providing
safety to the vehicle, its occupants, as well as the people around it. (vi) Record: Storing different
data related to the transportation system is an essential component of a vehicular IoT. The record
may be of any form, such as video footage, still images, and documentation. By taking advantage
of cloud and fog computing architecture, the vehicular IoT systems keep all the required records
in its database.

13.1.3 Crime assistance in a smart IoT transportation system In this section, we discuss a case
study on smart safety in a vehicular IoT infrastructure. The system highlights a fog framework
for intelligent public safety in vehicular environments (fog-FISVER) [1]. The primary aim of this
system is to ensure smart transportation safety (STS) in public bus services. The system works
through the following three steps:
(i) The vehicle is equipped with a smart surveillance system, which is capable of executing video
processing and detecting criminal activity in real time.
(ii) A fog computing architecture works as the mediator between a vehicle and a police vehicle.
(iii) A mobile application is used to report the crime to a nearby police agent. Architecture The
architecture of the fog-FISVER consists of different IoT components. Moreover, the developers
utilized the advantages of the low-latency fog computing architecture for designing their system.
Fog-FISVER is based on a three-tiered architecture, as shown in Figure 13.4. We will discuss
each of the tiers as follows:

(i) Tier1—In-vehicle FISVER STS Fog: In this system component, a fog node is placed for
detecting criminal activities. This tier accumulates the real sensed data from within the vehicle
and processes it to detect possible criminal activities inside the vehicle. Further, this tier is
responsible for creating crime-level metadata and transferring the required information to the
next tier. For performing all the activities, Tier 1 consists of two subsystems: Image processor
and event dispatcher
• Image Processor: The image processor inside Tier 1 is a potent component, which has a
capability similar to the human eye for detecting criminal activities. Developers of the system
used a deep-learning-based approach for enabling image processing techniques in the processor.
To implement the fog computing architecture in the vehicle, a Raspberry-Pi-3 processor board is
used, which is equipped with a high-quality camera. Further, this architecture uses template
matching and correlation to detect the presence of dangerous articles (such as a pistol or a knife)
in the sub-image of a video frame. Typically, the image processor stores a set of crime object
templates in the fog-FISVER STS fog infrastructure, which is present in Tier 2 of the system.
The image processor is divided into the following three parts:
(a) Crime definition downloader: This component periodically checks for the presence of new
crime object template definitions in fog-FISVER STS fog infrastructure. If a new crime object
template is available, it is stored locally.
(b) Crime definition storage: In order to use template matching, the crime object template
definition is required to be stored in the system. The crime definition storage is used to store all
the possible crime object template definitions.
 (c) Algorithm launcher: This component initiates the instances of the registered algorithm in
order to match the template with the video captured by the camera attached in the vehicles. If a
crime object is matched with the video, criminal activity is confirmed.
• Event dispatcher: This is another key component of Tier 1. The event dispatcher is responsible
for accumulating the data sensed from vehicles and the image processor. After the successful
detection of criminal activity, the information is sent to the fog-FISVER STS fog infrastructure.
The components of the event dispatcher are as follows:
(a) Event notifier: It transfers the data to the fog-FISVER STS fog infrastructure, after receiving
it from the attached sensor nodes in the vehicle.
(b) Data gatherer: This is an intermediate component between the event notifier and the physical
sensor; it helps to gather sensed data.
(c) Virtual sensor interface: Multiple sensors that sense data from different locations of the
vehicle are present in the system. The virtual sensor interface helps to maintain a particular
procedure to gather data. This component also cooperates to register the sensors in the system.
(ii) Tier 2—FISVER STS Fog Infrastructure: Tier 2 works on top of the fog architecture.
Primarily, this tier has three responsibilities—keep updating the new object template definitions,
classifying events, and finding the most suitable police vehicle to notify the event. FISVER STS
fog infrastructure is divided into two sub-components:
• Target Object Training: Practically, there are different types of crime objects. The system needs
to be up-to-dated regarding all crime objects. This subcomponent of Tier 2 is responsible for
creating, updating, and storing the crime object definition. The algorithm launcher uses these
definitions in Tier 1 for the template matching process. The template definition includes different
features of the crime object such as color gradient and shape format. A new object definition is
stored in the definition database. The database requires to be updated based on the availability of
new template definitions.
• Notification Factory: This sub-component receives notification about the events in a different
vehicle with the installed system. Further, this component receives and validates the events. In
order to handle multiple events, it maintains a queue.
(iii) Tier 3 consists of mobile applications that are executed on the users’ devices. The
application helps a user, who witnesses a crime, to notify the police.
 Healthcare IoT
14.1 Introduction
Internet of Things (IoT) has resulted in the development and emergence of a variety of
technologies that has had a huge impact on the medical field, especially wearable healthcare. The
salient features of IoT encourage researchers and industries to develop new IoT-based
technologies for healthcare. These technologies have given rise to small, power-efficient, health
monitoring and diagnostic systems. Consequently, the development of numerous healthcare
technologies and systems has rapidly increased over the last few years. Currently, various
IoT-enabled healthcare devices are in wide use around the globe for diagnosing human diseases,
monitoring human health conditions, caring/monitoring for elders, children, and even infants.
Moreover, IoT-based healthcare systems and services help to increase the quality of life for
common human beings; in fact, it has a promising scope of revolutionizing healthcare in
developing nations. IoT-based healthcare devices provide access and knowledge about human
physiological conditions through hand held devices. With this development, users can be aware
of the risks in acquiring various diseases and take necessary precautions to avoid preventable
diseases. The basic skeleton of an IoT-based healthcare system is very similar to the conventional
IoT architectures. However, for IoT-based healthcare services, the sensors are specifically
designed to measure and quantify different physiological conditions of its users/patients. A
typical architecture for healthcare IoT is shown in Figure 14.1. We divide the architecture into
four layers. The detailed description of these layers are as follows:

(i) Layer 1: We have already explained in previous chapters that sensors are one of the key
enablers of IoT infrastructure. Layer 1 contains different physiological sensors that are placed on
the human body. These sensors collect the values of various physiological parameters. The
physiological data are analyzed to extract meaningful information. (ii) Layer 2: Layer 1 delivers
data to Layer 2 for short-term storage and low-level processing. The devices that belong to Layer
2 are commonly known as local processing units (LPU) or centralized hubs. These units collect
the sensed data from the physiological sensors attached to the body and process it based on the
architecture’s requirement. Further, LPUs or the centralized hubs forward the data to Layer 3.
(iii) Layer 3: This layer receives the data from Layer 2 and performs application specific
high-level analytics. Typically, this layer consists of cloud architecture or high-end servers. The
data from multiple patients, which may be from the same or different locations, are accumulated
in this layer. Post analysis of data, some inferences or results are provided to the application in
Layer 4(iv) Layer 4: The end-users directly interact with Layer 4 through receiver-side
applications. The modes of accessibility of these services by an end user are typically through
cell phones, computers, and tablets.
14.1.1 Components of healthcare IoT
A typical IoT healthcare architecture is composed of several components that are essential to
generate the whole architecture. Figure 14.2 depicts different components and their usage in an
IoT healthcare system. Each of these components plays a distinct role in the smooth execution of
the system as a whole. In this section, we discuss the different components for a basic healthcare
IoT system.(i) Sensors: We have already explained that Layer 1 mainly consists of physiological
sensors that collect the physiological parameters of the patient. Few commonly used
physiological sensors and their uses are depicted in Table 14.1. (ii) Wireless Connectivity:
Without proper connectivity and communication, the data sensed by the physiological sensors
are of no use in an IoT-based healthcare system. Typically, the communication between the
wearable sensors and the LPU is through either wired or wireless connectivity. The wireless
communication between the physiological sensors and LPU occurs with the help of Bluetooth
and ZigBee. On the other hand, the communication between the LPU and the cloud or server
takes place with Internet connectivity such as WiFi and WLAN. In Layer 4 of the healthcare IoT
architecture, the healthcare data are received by the end users with different devices such as
laptops, desktops, and cellphones. These communication protocols vary depending on the type of
device in use. For example, when a service is received by a cellphone, it uses GSM (global
system for mobile communications). On the other hand, if the same service is received on a
desktop, it can be through Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Communication and connectivity in healthcare IoT
is an essential component. (iii) Privacy and Security: The privacy and security of health data is a
major concern in healthcare IoT services. In a healthcare IoT architecture, several devices
connect with the external world. Moreover, between LPU and the server/cloud, different
networking devices work via network hops (from one networked device to another) to transmit
the data. If any of these devices are compromised, it may result in the theft of health data of a
patient, leading to serious security breaches and ensuing lawsuits. In order to increase the
security of the healthcare data, different healthcare service providers and organizations are
implementing healthcare data encryption and protection schemes [3, 4]. (iv) Analytics: For
converting the raw data into information, analytics plays an important role in healthcare IoT.
Several actors, such as doctors, nurses, and patients, access the healthcare information in a
different customized format. This customization allows each actor in the system to access only
the information pertinent to their job/role. In such a scenario, analytics plays a vital role in
providing different actors in the system access to meaningful information extracted from the raw
healthcare data . Analytics is also used for diagnosing a disease from the raw physiological data
available [1, 2]. (v) Cloud and Fog Computing: In a healthcare IoT system, several physiological
sensors are attached to a patient’s body. These sensors continuously produce a huge amount of
heterogeneous data. For storing these huge amounts of heterogeneous health data, efficient
storage space is essential. These data are used for checking the patient’s history, current health
status, and future for diagnosing different diseases and the symptoms of the patient. Typically,
the cloud storage space is scalable, where payment is made as per the usage of space.
Consequently, to store health data in a healthcare IoT system, cloud storage space is used.
Analytics on the stored data in cloud storage space is used for drawing various inferences. The
major challenges in storage are security and delay in accessing the data. Therefore, cloud and fog
computing play a pivotal role in the storage of these massive volumes of heterogeneous data. (vi)
Interface: The interface is the most important component for users in a healthcare IoT system.
Among IoT applications, healthcare IoT is a very crucial and sensitive application. Thus, the user
interface must be designed in such a way that it can depict all the required information clearly
and, if necessary, reformat or represent it such that it is easy to understand. Moreover, an
interface must also contain all the useful information related to the services.
14.1.2 Advantages and risk of healthcare IoT
IoT has already started to penetrate the domain of medical science. In healthcare, IoT has
become significantly popular due to its various features, which have been covered previously in
this book. Healthcare IoT helps in managing different healthcare subsystems efficiently.
Although it has many advantages, healthcare IoT has some risks too, which may be crucial in
real-life applications. In this section, we discuss the different advantages and risks of healthcare
IoT as depicted in Figure
Advantages of healthcare IoT The major advantages of healthcare IoT can be listed as follows:
• Real-time: In healthcare sectors, different components, such as the condition of the patients,
availability of doctors and beds in a hospital, medical facilities with their monetary charges, can
vary dynamically with time. In such a dynamic scenario, one of the important characteristics of
an IoT-based healthcare system is real-timeliness. A healthcare IoT system enables users, such as
doctors, end users at the patient-side, and staff in a healthcare unit, to receive real-time updates
about the healthcare IoT components, as mentioned earlier. Moreover, a healthcare IoT system
can enable a doctor to observe a patient’s health condition in real-time even from a remote
location, and can suggest the type of care to be provided to the patient. On the other hand, users
at the patient-end can easily take different decisions, such as where to take a patient during
critical situations. Moreover, the staff in a healthcare unit are better aware of the current situation
of their unit, which includes the number of patients admitted, availability of the doctors and bed,
total revenue of the unit, and other such information.
• Low cost: Healthcare IoT systems facilitate users with different services at low cost. For
example, an authorized user can easily find the availability of the beds in a hospital with simple
Internet connectivity and a web-browser-based portal. The user need not visit the hospital
physically to check the availability of beds and facilities. Moreover, multiple registered users can
retrieve the same information simultaneously.
• Easy management: Healthcare IoT is an infrastructure that brings all its end users under the
same umbrella to provide healthcare services. On the other hand, in such an infrastructure, the
management of numerous tangible and intangible entities (such as users, medical devices,
facilities, costs, and security) is a challenging task. However, healthcare IoT facilitates easy and
robust management of all the entities.
• Automatic processing: A healthcare unit consists of multiple subsystems, for which manual
interventions are required. For example, to register a patient with a hospital, the user may be
required to enter his/her details manually. However, automatic processing features can remove
such manual intervention with a fingerprint sensor/device. Healthcare IoT enables end-to-end
automatic processing in different units and also consolidates the information across the whole
chain: from a patient’s registration to discharge.
• Easy record-keeping: When we talk about a healthcare IoT system, it includes a huge number
of patients, doctors, and other staff. Different patients suffer from different types of diseases. A
particular disease requires particular treatment, which requires knowledge of a patient’s health
history, along with other details about them. Therefore, the timely delivery of health data of the
patient to the doctor is important. In such a situation, the permanent storage of the patients’
health data along with their respective details is essential. Similarly, for the smooth execution of
the healthcare unit, details of the staff with their daily activity in a healthcare unit are also
required for storage. A healthcare unit must also track its condition and financial transactions for
further development of the unit. A healthcare IoT enables the user to keep these records in a safe
environment and deliver them to the authorized user as per requirement. Moreover, these
recorded data are accessible from any part of the globe.
• Easy diagnosis: We have already explained that a healthcare IoT system stores the data of the
patient in a secure manner. Sometimes, for diagnosing a disease, a huge chunk of prior data is
required. In a healthcare IoT system, the diagnosis of the disease becomes easier with the help of
certain learning mechanisms along with the availability of prior datasets.
Risk in healthcare IoT We have already discussed the different advantages of the healthcare IoT.
However, in a healthcare IoT system, there are multiple risks as well. Here, we discuss the
various risks associated with a healthcare IoT system.
• Loss of connectivity: A healthcare IoT system consists of different physiological sensors that
sense and transmit the sensed data to a centralized unit. Moreover, continuous data transmission
from the patient is expected in a good healthcare system. Intermittent connectivity may result in
data loss, which may result in a life-threatening situations for the patient. Proper and continuous
connectivity is essential in a healthcare IoT system.
• Security: A healthcare IoT system contains the health data of different patients associated with
the system. The healthcare system must keep the data confidential. This data should not be
accessible to any unauthorized person. On the other hand, different persons and devices are
associated with a healthcare IoT system. In such a system, the risk of data tampering and
unauthorized access is quite high.
• Error: Data analytics helps a healthcare IoT system to predict the patients’ condition and
diagnosis of diseases. A huge amount of data needs to be fed into the system in order to perform
accurate analytics. Moreover, the management of a huge amount of data is a crucial task in any
IoT-based system. Particularly, in the healthcare system, errors in data may lead to
misinterpretation of symptoms and lead to the wrong diagnosis of the patient. It is a challenging
task to construct an error-free healthcare IoT architecture.
Architecture The AmbuSens system is equipped with different physiological sensors along with
a local hub. These sensors sense the physiological parameters from the patient’s body and
transmit those to a local data processing unit (LDPU). The physiological sensors and LDPU form
a wireless body area network (WBAN). Further, this local hub forwards the physiological data to
the cloud for storing and analyzing the health parameters. Finally, the data are accessed by
different users. The detailed layered architecture of the AmbuSens system is depicted in Figure

(i) Layer 1: This layer consists of multiple WBANs attached to a patient’s body. These WBANs
acquire the physiological data from the patient and transmit them to the upper layer. The
physiological sensors are heterogeneous, that is, each of these sensors senses different
parameters of the body. Moreover, the physiological sensors require calibration for acquiring the
correct data from a patient’s body. Layer 1 takes care of the calibration of the physiological
sensor nodes. Further, in order to deliver the patient’s physiological data from the sensor node to
the LDPU, it is essential to form a proper WBAN. The formation of WBAN takes place by
connecting multiple physiological sensor nodes to the LDPU so that the sensors can transmit the
data to the LDPU, simultaneously. (ii) Layer 2: In the AmbuSens system, cloud computing has
an important role. Layer 2 is responsible for handling the cloud-related functions. From Layer 1,
WBANs attached to the different patients deliver data to the cloud end. The cloud is used for the
long-term analysis and storage of data in the AmbuSens system. Moreover, the previous health
records of the patients are stored in the cloud in order to perform patient-specific analysis. A
huge volume of health data is produced by the WBANs, which are handled by the cloud with the
help of big data analytics for providing real-time analysis. (iii) Layer 3: In the AmbuSens
system, the identity of the patients remains anonymous. An algorithm is designed to generate a
dynamic hash value for each patient in order to keep the patient’s identity anonymous. Moreover,
in the AmbuSens system, at different time instants, a new hash value is generated for the
patients. The entire hashing mechanism of the AmbuSens is performed in this layer. (iv) Layer 4:
The users simply register into the system and use it as per requirement.
Hardware
In the AmbuSens system, a variety of hardware components are used such as sensors,
communication units, and other computing devices.
• Sensors: The sensors used in the AmbuSens system are non-invasive. The description of the
sensors used for forming the WBAN in the AmbuSens system are as follows:
(i) Optical Pulse Sensing Probe: It senses the photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal and transmits it
to a GSR expansion module. Typically, PPG signals are sensed from the ear lobe, fingers, or
other location of the human body. Further, the GSR expansion module transfers the sensed data
to a device in real-time.
(ii) Electrocardiogram (ECG) unit and sensor: The ECG module used in AmbuSens is in the
form of a kit, which contains ECG electrodes, biophysical 9” leads, biophysical 18” leads,
alcohol swabs, and wrist strap. Typically, the ECG sensor measures the pathway of electrical
impulses through the heart to sense the heart’s responses to physical exertion and other factors
affecting cardiac health.
(iii) Electromyogram (EMG) sensor: This sensor is used to analyze and measure the
biomechanics of the human body. Particularly, the EMG sensor is used to measure different
electrical activity related to muscle contractions; it also assesses nerve conduction, and muscle
response in injured tissue.
(iv) Temperature sensor: The body temperature of patients changes with the condition of the
body. Therefore, a temperature sensor is included in the AmbuSens system, which can easily be
placed on the body of the patient.
(v) Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) sensor: The GSR sensor is used for measuring the change in
electrical characteristics of the skin.
• Local Data Processing Unit (LDPU): In AmbuSens, all the sensors attached to the human body
sense and transmit the sensed data to a centralized device, which is called an LDPU. An LDPU is
a small processing board with limited computation capabilities. The connectivity between the
sensors and the LDPU follows a single-hop star topology. The LDPU is programmed in such a
way that it can receive the physiological data from multiple sensor nodes, simultaneously.
Further, it transmits the data to the cloud for long-term storage and heavy processing.
• Communication Module: Each sensor node consists of a Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1 standard)
module. The communication between the sensor nodes and the LDPU takes place with the help
of Bluetooth, which supports a maximum communication range of 10 meters in line-of-sight.
The LDPU delivers the data to the cloud with 3G/4G communication.
Front End In the AmbuSens system, three actors—doctor, paramedic/nurse, and patient—are
able to participate and use the services. The web interface is designed as per the requirements of
the actors of the system. Each of the actors has an option to log in and access the system. The
confidentiality of a patient and their physiological data is important in a healthcare system.
Therefore, the system provides different scopes for data accessibility based on the category of an
actor. For example, the detailed health data of a patient is accessible only to the assigned doctor.
These data may not be required for the nurse; therefore, a nurse is unable to access the same set
of data a doctor can access. The system provides the flexibility to a patient to log in to his/her
account and download the details of his/her previous medical/treatment details. Therefore, in
AmbuSens, the database is designed in an efficient way such that it can deliver the customized
data to the respective actor. Each of the users has to register with the system to avail of the
service of the AmbuSens. Therefore, in this system, the registration process is also designed in a
customized fashion, that is, the details of a user to be entered into the registration form is
different for different actors. For example, a doctor must enter his/her registration number in the
registration form.
 IoT Analytics
17.1 Introduction
In previous chapters, we learned that sensors are an intrinsic part of IoT. These sensors collect
data from the environment and serve different IoT-based applications. The raw data from a
sensor require processing to draw inferences. However, an IoTbased system generates data with
complex structures; therefore, conventional data processing on these data is not sufficient.
Sophisticated data analytics are necessary to identify hidden patterns. In this chapter, we discuss
a few traditional data analytics tools that are popular in the context of IoT applications. These
tools include k-means, decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and
density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithms. Before
discussing these algorithms, let us understand some of the basics related to machine learning
(ML).
17.1.1 Machine learning
The term “machine learning” was coined by Arthur Lee Samuel, in 1959. He defined machine
learning as a “field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly
programmed”. ML is a powerful tool that allows a computer to learn from past experiences and
its mistakes and improve itself without user intervention. Typically, researchers envision
IoT-based systems to be autonomous and self-adaptive, which enhances services and user
experience. To this end, different ML models play a crucial role in designing intelligent systems
in IoT by leveraging the massive amount of generated data and increasing the accuracy in their
operations. The main components of ML are statistics, mathematics, and computer science for
drawing inferences, constructing ML models, and implementation, respectively.
17.1.2 Advantages of ML
Applications fueled by ML open a plethora of opportunities in IoT-based systems, from
triggering actuators to identifying chronic diseases from images of an eye. ML also enables a
system to identify changes and to take intelligent actions that relatively imitates that of a human.
As ML demonstrates a myriad of advantages, its popularity in IoT applications is increasing
rapidly. In this section, we discuss the different advantages of ML, as depicted in Figure
(i) Self-learner: An ML-empowered system is capable of learning from its prior and run-time
experiences, which helps in improving its performance continuously. For example, an
ML-assisted weather monitoring system predicts the weather report of the next seven days with
high accuracy from data collected in the last six months. The system offers even better accuracy
when it analyzes weather data that extends back to three more months.
(ii) Time-efficient: ML tools are capable of producing faster results as compared to human
interpretation. For example, the weather monitoring system generates a weather prediction report
for the upcoming seven days, using data that goes back to 6–9 months. A manual analysis of
such sizeable data for predicting the weather is difficult and time-consuming. Moreover, the
manual process of data analysis also affects accuracy. In such a situation, ML is beneficial in
predicting the weather with less delay and accuracy as compared to humans.
(iii) Self-guided: An ML tool uses a huge amount of data for producing its results. These tools
have the capability of analyzing the huge amount of data for identifying trends autonomously. As
an example, when we search for a particular item on an online e-commerce website, an ML tool
analyzes our search trends. As a result, it shows a range of products similar to the original item
that we searched for initially.
(iv) Minimum Human Interaction Required: In an ML algorithm, the human does not need to
participate in every step of its execution. The ML algorithm trains itself automatically, based on
available data inputs. For instance, let us consider a healthcare system that predicts diseases. In
traditional systems, humans need to determine the disease by analyzing different symptoms
using standard “if– else” observations. However, the ML algorithm determines the same disease,
based on the health data available in the system and matching the same with the symptoms of the
patient.
(v) Diverse Data Handling: Typically, IoT systems consist of different sensors and produce
diverse and multi-dimensional data, which are easily analyzed by ML algorithms. For example,
consider the profit of an industry in a financial year. Profits in such industries depend on the
attendance of laborers, consumption of raw materials, and performance of heavy machineries.
The attendance of laborers is associated with an RFID (radio frequency identification)-based
system. On the other hand, industrial sensors help in the detection of machiney failures, and a
scanner helps in tracking the consumption of raw materials. ML algorithms use these diverse and
multi-dimensional data to determine the profit of the industry in the financial year.
(vi) Diverse Applications: ML is flexible and can be applied to different application domains
such as healthcare, industry, smart traffic, smart home, and many others. Two similar ML
algorithms may serve two different applications.

(i) Self-learner: An ML-empowered system is capable of learning from its prior and run-time
experiences, which helps in improving its performance continuously. For example, an
ML-assisted weather monitoring system predicts the weather report of the next seven days with
high accuracy from data collected in the last six months. The system offers even better accuracy
when it analyzes weather data that extends back to three more months.
(ii) Time-efficient: ML tools are capable of producing faster results as compared to human
interpretation. For example, the weather monitoring system generates a weather prediction report
for the upcoming seven days, using data that goes back to 6–9 months. A manual analysis of
such sizeable data for predicting the weather is difficult and time-consuming. Moreover, the
manual process of data analysis also affects accuracy. In such a situation, ML is beneficial in
predicting the weather with less delay and accuracy as compared to humans.
(iii) Self-guided: An ML tool uses a huge amount of data for producing its results. These tools
have the capability of analyzing the huge amount of data for identifying trends autonomously. As
an example, when we search for a particular item on an online e-commerce website, an ML tool
analyzes our search trends. As a result, it shows a range of products similar to the original item
that we searched for initially.
(iv) Minimum Human Interaction Required: In an ML algorithm, the human does not need to
participate in every step of its execution. The ML algorithm trains itself automatically, based on
available data inputs. For instance, let us consider a healthcare system that predicts diseases. In
traditional systems, humans need to determine the disease by analyzing different symptoms
using standard “if– else” observations. However, the ML algorithm determines the same disease,
based on the health data available in the system and matching the same with the symptoms of the
patient.
(v) Diverse Data Handling: Typically, IoT systems consist of different sensors and produce
diverse and multi-dimensional data, which are easily analyzed by ML algorithms. For example,
consider the profit of an industry in a financial year. Profits in such industries depend on the
attendance of laborers, consumption of raw materials, and performance of heavy machineries.
The attendance of laborers is associated with an RFID (radio frequency identification)-based
system. On the other hand, industrial sensors help in the detection of machiney failures, and a
scanner helps in tracking the consumption of raw materials. ML algorithms use these diverse and
multi-dimensional data to determine the profit of the industry in the financial year.
(vi) Diverse Applications: ML is flexible and can be applied to different application domains
such as healthcare, industry, smart traffic, smart home, and many others. Two similar ML
algorithms may serve two different applications
17.1.4 Types of ML
Typically, ML algorithms consist of four categories: (i) Supervised (ii) Unsupervised (iii)
Semi-supervised (iv) Reinforcement Learning (Figure 17.2). In this section, we briefly explore
different categories of ML. Before discussing further, we determine the meaning of labeled- and
unlabeled-data. As the name suggests, labeled data contain certain meaningful tags, known as
labels. Typically, the labels correspond to the characteristics or properties of the objects. For
example, in a dataset containing the images of two birds, a particular sample is tagged as a crow
or a pigeon. On the other hand, the unlabeled dataset does not have any tags associated with
them. For example, a dataset containing the images of a bird without mentioning its name.
(i) Supervised Learning: This type of learning supervises or directs a machine to learn certain
activities using labeled datasets. The labeled data are used as a supervisor to make the machine
understand the relation of the labels with the properties of the corresponding input data. Consider
an example of a student who tries to learn to solve equations using a set of labeled formulas. The
labels

indicate the formulae necessary for solving an equation. The student learns to solve the equation
using suitable formulae from the set. In the case of a new equation, the student tries to identify
the set of formulae necessary for solving it. Similarly, ML algorithms train themselves for
selecting efficient formulae for solving equations. The selection of these formulae depends
primarily on the nature of the equations to be solved. Supervised ML algorithms are popular in
solving classification and regression problems. Typically, the classification deals with predictive
models that are capable of approximating a mapping function from input data to categorical
output. On the other hand, regression provides the mapping function from input data to
numerical output. There are different classification algorithms in ML. However, in this chapter,
we discuss three popular classification algorithms: (i) k-nearest neighbor (KNN), (ii) decision
tree (DT), and (iii) random forest (RF).
We use regression to estimate the relationship among a set of dependent variables with
independent variables, as shown in Figure 17.3. The dependent variables are the primary factors
that we want to predict. However, these dependent variables are affected by the independent
variables. Let x and y be the independent and dependent variables, respectively. Mathematically,
a simple regression model is represented as:
(ii) Unsupervised Learning: Unsupervised learning algorithms use unlabeled datasets to find
scientific trends. Let us consider an example of the student similar to that described in the case of
supervised learning, and illustrate how it differs in case of unsupervised learning. As already
mentioned, unsupervised learning does not use any labels in its operations. Instead, the ML
algorithms in this category try to identify the nature and properties of the input equation and the
nature of the formulae responsible for solving it. Unsupervised learning algorithms try to create
different clusters based on the features of the formulae and relate it with the input equations.
Unsupervised learning is usually applied to solve two types of problems: clustering and
association. Clustering divides the data into multiple groups. In contrast, association discovers
the relationship or association among the data in a dataset.
(iii) Semi-Supervised Learning: Semi-supervised learning belongs to a category between
supervised and unsupervised learning. Algorithms under this category use a combination of both
labeled and unlabeled datasets for training. Labeled data are typically expensive and are
relatively difficult to label correctly. Unlabeled data is less expensive than labeled data.
Therefore, semi-supervised learning includes both labeled and unlabeled dataset to design the
learning model. Traditionally, semi-supervised learning uses mostly unlabeled data, which makes
it efficient to use, and capable of overcoming samples with missing labels.
(iv) Reinforcement Learning: Reinforcement learning establishes a pattern with the help of its
experiences by interacting with the environment. Consequently, the agent performs a crucial role
in reinforcement learning models. It aims to achieve a particular goal in an uncertain
environment. Typically, the model starts with an initial state of a problem, for which different
solutions are available. Based on the output, the model receives either a reward or a penalty from
the environment. The output and reward act as inputs for proceeding to the next state. Thus,
reinforcement learning models continue learning iteratively from their experiences while
inducing correctness to the output.